


A Close Encounter

by Summertime_Queen



Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Are they friends? Are they husbands? You decide!, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Pining Crowley (Good Omens), Pre-Apocalypse, Tags Are Hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-23
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-07-12 05:21:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19940869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Summertime_Queen/pseuds/Summertime_Queen
Summary: Crowley is enjoying a wonderful night catching up with his favourite Angel, when an unexpected visitor drops in scuppering their plans.Short and sweet bit of Crowley staring intently at an oblivious Aziraphale like a slightly fluffy puppy.





	A Close Encounter

The smooth liquor burned his throat on the way down. He licked his lips and embraced the feeling of a good single malt scotch warming his body from the inside. Crowley had long since abandoned his sunglasses and was amusedly watching Aziraphale animatedly describe the plot of his latest find (the only copy of a fiction novel written by lesser known royal figure which he had finished reading by the time he got it back to the store) in mind-numbing detail as Crowley lounged on the sofa, his head unable to keep steady to the background noise of a nice classical record they had found in the back of an unlabelled box (one of many).

"And then whoosh!" He clapped his hands, "he turns into a banana tree!"

"Oh wow." The Demon always loved to humour the Angel when he got like this - he couldn't squash his passions and excitement for life just because he shared nearly no interest in all with the actual words coming out of his mouth at full speed.

"I know!" Aziraphale missed all the sarcastic intonations from his audience. "It's so mad!"

"Only slightly." He took another sip as Aziraphale continued on. Goddamn this was good stuff they were drinking. They always broke out the good stuff when they had the time to really sit down and enjoy it. It had been three long years since they last had a good catch up like this. It was unfortunate that their respective jobs always got in the way but humans had to be tempted and blessed, how else could Head Office keep the rabble on their toes?

With a final sip, Crowley leaned forward and placed his now empty glass on the desk next to him, unable to take his eyes off the Angel in front of him. The familiar niggle of fear that they may not cross paths again for as many years, or more, elbowed its way into his brain. The demon took this moment to really take in all of the almost cherub-like features of Aziraphale; his blond hair, round features, the slight blush of inebriation, the immaculately complicated amount of layers he always wore, his ornate golden pocket watch.

"... And then that's when the gorilla on a tricycle turns up!"

"B-but what happen'd to the giant peng-uin?" Crowley asked slurring more than intended. Apparently he was absorbing more of this fantastical tale than he intended too.

"Oh yes of course, Brian!" Aziraphale stood up with gusto, knocking a miscellaneous pile of wares off his desk. He was too absorbed in his storytelling to notice Crowleys subtle intervention of the laws of physics, allowing the pile to fall back onto the desk (ever so slightly further in from the edge of the wooden tabletop to prevent further wanton destruction). Aziraphale had launched into another long explanation of a joke from the novel when an almighty shiver shot down Crowleys spine.

"Uh, angel..." He sat up and looked around as the Angel kept nattering unawares. "Aziraphale!" He said, more urgently this time.

"What is it?"

"Shhh!" They sat in silence for a moment, listening for anything untoward.

KNOCK KNOCK

"Aziraphale, are you in there?" A voice called out as the front door of the bookshop opened with a ring of the bell. Both Crowley and Aziraphale nearly jumped out of their skin as the dulcet tones of the Archangel Gabriel sobered them up. They both stared at each other, hearts beating in their throats.

"Shit."

*

Gabriel tentatively followed the sound of scrabbling to the back office where he found a rather flustered looking Angel who was standing in the middle of the room with his hands behind his back, decidedly very alone with definitely no one else in the room, or the building for that matter, thank you very much.

"Hello Gabriel!" Aziraphale held back a cough as he finished sobering himself up completely. "I ah, I wasn't expecting you?"

"I wasn't expecting to have to come here myself, but there were some issues sending you this information in the usual channels." Gabriel looked around with that very thinly veiled look of disgust. "What is that awful smell?" Luckily, he was too busy poking things on the desk to see the shifty look on Aziraphales face (or to notice that the record player had been knocked and was now playing the same two seconds of off-key violin over and over and over and over).

"Oh that? New cologne-No-Just book smell-Old books. They smell." He stumbled over his words. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" He tried to gesture back out of the room but Gabriel stepped closer instead.

"There is an urgent mission for you. In Italy." He wandered around, passing in front of the sofa where Crowley had been sat not moments before, wrinkling his nose. He turned his attention back to Aziraphale. "Well, The Vatican. The Pope is about to meet his Creator and we need all hands on deck to help guide the Cardinals to our preferred successor."

"Oh, right." Aziraphale gulped as he tried once again to subtly guide Gabriel out of the room.

"You're to leave first thing in the morning." He picked up the half-drunk bottle full of scotch and eyed the two tumblers on the table. "Expecting guests?" He raised an eyebrow.

"No-Yes-Not really-They couldn't make it. Very sad." Aziraphale was not made for lying, he had never been very good at it. What was working to his advantage, however, was the fact that most people up at Head Office already thought he was rather eccentric, even for an Angel, and that his behaviourism's had been getting more off-putting in general. Going native, they all assumed. His connection with the humans is also what made him so good at his job though, which is why he was always sent off for the most long, boring and (somewhat) important missions.

"Riiight." Gabriel replaced the bottle onto the desk and, much to Aziraphales relief, began to make his way out of the shop. "The Vatican. Tomorrow morning. Be there." He pointed back at him and winked and clicked his tongue, before continuing out of the shop. Aziraphale stood deathly still until the sound of the door bell rang out. He cautiously tip-toed over to the entrance to confirm that Gabriel had definitely left and breathed a sigh of relief. He ran back into the office and pulled up the seat cushions of the sofa, revealed a rather agitated snake.

"He's gone!"

"Well that was bloody close!" Crowley morphed back into human form as he stood up and stalked to the front of the shop to make sure they really were alone for himself. "Bloody Pope ruining a perfectly good night! Couldn't hang on just one more, could he?"

"At least we know for sure that they can't just walk in on us without any warning at all." Typical Aziraphale was always trying to stay positive in the light of adversity. He put a hand on Crowleys shoulder as they both watched the empty street for any sign of movement, missing the strange facial expression of one who was not used to being touched unless it was on business.

"Well he nearly did!" Crowley span back around and flopped back onto the sofa. "Now I have to drink all that scotch again to properly enjoy it."

"Actually," the Angel began as he followed him into the office, making Crowleys heart sink a little. "Actually you should probably leave. I'm afraid that I have to prepare for this mission now. I really don't want to cut this evening short it has been just so lovely seeing you again." Crowley was quiet for a moment as a million thoughts ran through his head.

"Yeah." More silence. "Well, be seeing you, angel." Crowley slapped a smile across his face as he put on a pair of sunglasses and began to saunter out to his waiting car, choosing to go with his favourite 'run and hide' option instead of tempting his angel to continue their night were they left off. He waved goodbye as the front door shut behind him, leaving Aziraphale all alone with his thoughts to the sound of a skipping record.

"Right..."

**Author's Note:**

> Eh had an idea about Gabriel gatecrashing a drinking session and just ran with it.
> 
> Let me know what you think :)


End file.
